August 2023 Monthly Notables

 Sightings:

• Black-headed Gull (2nd cycle). Kent County, Delaware. 02 August 2023.
• Franklin's Gull (adult). Bristol County, Massachusetts. 05 August 2023.
• Black-legged Kittiwake (adult). Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. 10 August 2023.
• Short-billed Gull (adult). Calgary County, Alberta. 11 August 2023.
• Presumably returning individual since 2020.
• Heermann's Gull (1st cycle). Sitka City & Borough, Alaska. 10 August 2023.
• Lesser Black-backed Gull (3rd cycle). Clark County, Nevada. 11 August 2023.
• California Gull (juvenile). Wagoner County, Oklahoma. 14 August 2023.
• Slaty-backed Gull (adult). Anchorage, Alaska. 14 August 2023.
• Continuing. 
• Black-legged Kittiwake (apparent juvenile). Hamilton County, Ontario. 15 August 2023.
• Laughing Gull (juvenile). Lancaster County, Nebraska. 19 August 2023.
• Little Gull (2 - juveniles). Lake County, Indiana. 24 August 2023.
• Franklin's Gull (adult). Anne Arundel County, Maryland. 24 August 2023.
• Franklin's Gull (1st cycle). Fairfax County, Virginia. 24 August 2023.
• Glaucous Gull (2nd cycle type). Cumberland County, New Jersey. 25 August 2023.
• Little Gull (juvenile). Columbia-Shuswap District, British Columbia. 26 August 2023.
• Heermann's Gull (5th cycle). Duval County, Florida. 26 August 2023.
• Atlantic Coast Bird.
• Lesser Black-backed Gull (adult). Grays Harbor, Washington. 27 August 2023.
• Laughing Gull (2nd cycle). Pacific County, Washington. 28 August 2023.

August 2023 Quiz

 

Oregon. January.

Age: Adult and 1st cycle.

Identification: Beginning with the adult, it has a strong, bright yellow bill. The head pattern is densely smudged, and the primaries are slate-black with distinctive pale underside to the far wing. Every thing about this bird is consistent with a hybrid Glaucous-winged x Western (so-called Olympic Gull). The primaries are too pale for Western, but too dark for Glaucous-winged. The 1st cycle, similarly, has features intermediate between both species, and was identified as a hybrid.